The dentist workforce in urban counties is younger than the workforce in rural counties.
By Julie Spero, Evan Galloway
Jun 20, 2019
- In 2018, 87% of NC dentists practiced primarily or exclusively in metropolitan counties.
- There are more younger dentists than older dentists in metropolitan NC counties. This finding implies that new dentists have consistently gravitated toward practice in urban rather than rural areas. See our prior blog post for more on this trend.
- The age distribution of rural dentists is relatively even, with a slight uptick for dentists in their mid-60’s.
- Some dentists may practice part-time in rural counties. The data set does not include hours by practice location, so we are unable to determine FTE (full-time equivalent) coverage by practice location.
Funding & Acknowledgements
The HPDS is maintained by the Program on Health Workforce Research and Policy at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in collaboration with the North Carolina Area Health Education Centers Program (AHEC), and the state’s independent health professional licensing boards. Ongoing financial support is provided by the NC AHEC Program Office. Although the NC HPDS maintains the data system, the data remain the property of their respective licensing board. This information or content and conclusions are those of the authors and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by NC AHEC. To learn more about NC AHEC please visit: https://www.ncahec.net.
